Date: Wed, 26 Jul 95 23:28:05 MDT
From: "Gabriel (in New Mexico)"
Subject: hate crime statistics (long)
There are no definitive statistics on hate crime, especially anti-gay hate
crime, because crimes are frequently not reported, or police don't consider
them to be really a crime. Or a murder will not be seen as hate-motivated.
The following consist of (1) some excerpts from the 1987 Abt Associates Report
commissioned by the Justice Department in 1986, and (2) several press releases
and reports that I've culled from postings here and to GLB-NEWS. The first
item is the best "credentialed".
From "The Response of the Criminal Justice System to Bias Crime: An
Exploratory Review," by Peter Finn and Taylor McNeil of Abt Associates
(55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge MA; 617-492-7100 -- you can *call* them)
-- this report was submitted to the National Institute of Justice, of
the U.S. Department of Justice, under contract No. OJP-86-002.
-- report is dated October 7, 1987.
page 2 (from sec.1.1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM):
The most frequent victims of hate violence today are blacks, Hispanics,
Southeast Asians, Jews, and gays and lesbians. Homosexuals are probably the
most frequent victims. Verbal intimidation, assault, and vandalism are the
most commonly reported forms of hate violence.
page 8 (from sec.2.1. STATUTES, from chapter 2, Current Practices):
(b) Most states have enacted statutes proscribing acts that are already
criminal offenses but SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITING THESE ACTS WHEN THEY ARE
MOTIVATED BY THE VICTIM'S RACE, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN.
... Almost none of these statutes include gay and lesbian victims of violence.
However, in 1984, California and Seattle passed the first bias crime laws that
specifically include protection for gays and lesbians. ... Attempts to enact
bias crime legislation that includes gays and lesbians have been defeated in
Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, and Illinois.
page 17 (sec.3.1 DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING, chapter 3, ISSUES AND NEEDS):
A deficiency with all data collection efforts is underreporting. Many
victims of bias crimes do not report incidents because they distrust the
police, feel that incident is too minor to report or that the police cannot do
anything about it, have a language barrier, fear retaliation by the offender,
or -- in the case of gays and lesbians -- fear public exposure.
page 24 (sec.3.2 LAW ENFORCEMENT):
Our respondents made clear that most police administrations have
significant reasons for NOT singling out bias crime, including:
....
....
* A perception that bias crime is not a significant problem in the
community, or that powerful elements of the community do not want
the problem addressed.
page 29 (sec. 3.2, subsection (d) ):
HOW CAN BEAT OFFICERS BE MOTIVATED TO DETERMINE WHETHER AN INCIDENT IS
BIAS RELATED AND THEN REPORT IT AS A BIAS CRIME? Many patrol officers may be
reluctant to identify bias crimes. For example, reports in the press at one
time suggested that New York City police officers were not funneling anti-gay
cases to the department's Bias Incident Investigating Unit. The California
Department of Justice pilot study to test a reporting system with nine
California law enforcement agencies found the potential for similar gaps in
police reporting.
Many police officers and deputy sheriffs are reluctant to become involved
in targeting bias crime because they do not take most incidents seriously, they
dislike the increased paperwork involved in reporting bias incidents, and they
often find it frustrating to determine whether a crime is motivated by bias.
In addition, some police officers may not target bias crime because, LIKE OTHERS IN THE COMMUNITY, THEY SHARE SOME OF THE NEGATIVE ATTITUDES
OF THE PERPETRATORS TOWARD MINORITY GROUPS.
page 32 (sec. 3.2, subsection (g) ) :
Police agencies know that they cannot prevent or solve most hate violence
activity without assistance form the community, but officers need concrete
examples of how they can get citizens to help. For example, black youngsters
taking public transportation to school through a predominantly upper-middle-
class gay neighborhood in San Francisco were verbally harassing and
occasionally assaulting gays on the buses. The distict police commander not
only stationed plainclothes officers on some of the buses, he also met with
gay community leaders to suggest they use their sheer numbers to deter the
harassment--by speaking up firmly to the teenagers on the buses to let them
know there were a lot of gays on board who wouldn't tolerate being attacked.
page 32 (sec. 3.2, subsection (h) ):
HOW CAN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES STIMULATE INCREASED REPORTING OF BIAS
CRIME? Many minority groups, but especially Southeast Asians and gays and
lesbians, are reluctant to report crime. Among the approaches for generating
increased reporting are the following:
* Public statements by police officials .. urging minorities to report...
* Distribution of public information materials, such as flyers and posters
... PSA spots on radio stations with large minority audiences.
* Presentations to minority organizations.
* Recruiting members of minority groups to the department, who, by their
very presence on the force, may encourage minorites to report bias
crime. For example, the New York Police Department set up a recruiting
booth in the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center.
page 34 (sec. 3.3 Prosecution, subsection (b) ):
WHAT ARE THE TRAINING NEEDS OF PROSECUTORS?.... Prosecutors also need to
learn how to deal with the "homosexual panic" or "gay advance" defense
(claiming self-defense or temporary insanity in response to a sexual advance)
which has resulted in lenient sentences or acquittals for defendants charged
with assaulting or murdering gay men. At the end of one trial in which this
tactic was used, the judge was reported to have told the jury that "If this had
not been a jury trial, my decision as judge would have been different from
yours... I would have found first-degree murder." In
addition, defense attorneys have increasingly exploited fear about AIDS to help
win acquittals in gay-bashing cases. Training could also focus on how to
conduct the voir dire in jury trials involving gay or lesbian victims, and how
to make openintg and closing statements to the jury.
page 36 (sec. 3.4 LEGISLATION, subsection (c) ):
HOW CAN STATE STATUTES ENACTED THAT
INCLUDE GAYS AND LESBIANS? Recent bias crime legislation introduced in New
York State at least in part because the bill included protection for
homosexuals, suggesting it may be politically difficult to include gays and
lesbians in state statutes. Attempts to amend existing bias crime statutes to
include homosexuals have been voted down in other states. However, excluding
this group either condones bias crimes against gays and lesbians or suggests it
does not exist. Strategies are needed that will encourage legislatures to
include gays and lesbians in their statutes.
page 36 (sec. 3.4, subsection (e) ):
HAVE STATUTES HELPED REDUCE HATE VIOLENCE? ... the impact is difficult to
assess. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that the Massachusetts Civil
Rights Act has reduced hate violence in Suffolk County (Boston) and Norfolk
County (suburban Boston). Useful information could be obtained in other
jurisdictions that documents at least the extent to which special statutes have
been used, and how often the government has won these cases.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1993 12:58:33 EST
From: GLB-News Forwarding
Subject: Hate Crimes Increase
To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS
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OUTFRONT
Colorado's Gay Community Forum
Volume Seveteen, Numnber 22
January 27,1993
HATE CRIMES VICTIMS SPEAK OUT! 3
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) held a press conference last
month at which they released current hate crime statistics that show a
dramatic increase in hate violence based on sexual orientation in Colorado.
Will Perkins, spokesperson for Colorado for Family Values (CFV), stated that
he does not believe that there has been an increase and that reports of hate
violence are fabricated by members of lesbian and gay communities.
Additionally, Manager of Safety Beth McCann of the Denver Police Department
(DPD) and a representative of Mayor Webb's office stated that they have not
seen an increase in reported hate crimes based on sexual orientation.
This contradicts information gathered by the Anti-Violence Project (AVP) of
the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Colorado (GLCCC). The average number
of hate crime reports AVP received monthly between January 1992 and October
1992 was 12. After the passage of Amendment 2, AVP received 45 reports of hate
crimes - an increase of 275%. AVP continued to feel the increase in December
with 35 reports - an increase of 191%.
There are reasons why neither DPD nor Mayor Webb's office would see an
increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation.
* Colorado's hate crime law does not include sexual orientation as a category.
* Since Colorado's hate crime law does not include sexual orientation as a
category, many police officers are unaware of what criteria are used to
categorize an offense as a hate crime based on homophobic bias. The majority
of the victims who have notified the police report that the offense was not
categorized as a hate crime.
*75% of the victims who reported to AVP did not report to the police.
The Anti-Violence Project follows the hate violence criteria set forth by the
FBI and the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990. Additionally, AVP is the only
agency in the state of Colorado which has the technical training to determine
whether an offense meets the criteria of a hate crime based on sexual
orientation.
The method of accusing minority groups of fabricating victimization is not
new; it has been used against rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters,
and racial/ethnic minority groups. Historically, this is a method that has
been used to discredit victims. The Anti-Violence Project uses similar intake
procedures as other victim's assistance agencies. Like other victims of crime
against persons, hate crime victims under-report, they do not fabricate,
violent incidents. The Anti-Violence Projects estimates that current reports
of hate violence represent only the tip of the iceberg.
CFV is attempting to deny responsibility for the hostile environment they have
created by hurling accusations of victimization fabrication. They, like all
perpetrators, need to be held accountable for their actions.